1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carriage for carrying spools of wire and other elongate stock materials, for the purpose of dispensing the elongate materials. The carriage is employed wherever it is desired to dispense generally similar reeled materials which may differ in certain aspects, such as dimensions, color, minor internal or external construction, and the like. A preferred application of the invention is in electrical construction, wherein an electrician may require many spools each having different types of electrical wires or cables. However, the invention is equally applicable to dispensing of ribbons, filaments, and other material in industrial, commercial and other settings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Construction electricians must typically have at hand many different types of electrical cables for completing a construction project. These types of cables may differ in many aspects. For example, different wire gauges are typically employed throughout a building. In large commercial, institutional, and industrial projects served by multiphase electrical supply systems, the various phases and neutral conductors are usually distinguished by color coding of the insulating jacket. Some applications require stranded conductors, while others require solid, single filament conductors. Therefore, a wide variety of electrical cables are typically required in each construction project.
It is preferred to work with spools of significant length of cable to avoid frequent depletion of a spool. Illustratively, many electricians prefer to work with spools containing 2,500 feet of cable. As wire gauge increases, the various spools become correspondingly heavy. It would be impractical to carry individual spools of wire from place to place within a construction site.
The prior art has proposed carriages adapted to carry spools of wire and to make dispensing easy and practical. An example is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,308, issued to Norman P. Tussing on Feb. 23, 1993, describes a wire cart adapted to store a plurality of wire spools. The cart has a plurality of vertical posts from which branches project laterally. The spools are supported on the branches. In the device of Tussing, the posts are fixed in position on the cart. By contrast, in the present invention, the posts rotate on the cart between a first position enabling easy loading of a spool onto a branch and a second position wherein wire is paid out in the same direction from which the spools are loaded. The supporting branches or rods of the present invention latch into place in the second position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,232, issued to John A. Lambert, Jr., on May 31, 1994, describes a wire dispensing cart which carries spools of wire. The spools are supported on fixed horizontal rods. By contrast, in the present invention, comparable rods rotate to the first position to enable easy loading of spools onto the rods. The rods in the present invention are then rotated into the second position, from which wire is paid out. The support rods latch into place in the second position.
A wire dispenser seen in U. S. Pat. No. 5,285,981, issued to Steven M. Pavelka on Feb. 15, 1994, supports spools in one position. The device of Pavelka lacks ability to shift between first and second positions and to latch in one of the positions, as seen in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,237, issued to Donald L. Torgrimson on Aug. 12, 1986, describes a two wheeled wire dispensing carriage wherein spools are supported between the two wheels, which are quite large. The rods supporting the spools are fixed in position generally parallel to the axle. Torgrimson's device lacks the ability to shift between first and second positions, and to latch in one of the positions.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.